Bad boy of fashion Jean Paul Gaultier threw his own funeral to celebrate the end of an era – with the help of some very stylish, very famous friends.
In his expectation-defying 50-year career in fashion, French designer Jean Paul Gaultier can be counted on for one thing only, putting on a show. When news broke only a couple of days out from his spring/summer 2019 showcase at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week that this collection would be his last, fans knew his final act would bring the house down.
Staged in France’s storied Theatre du Chatelet, the full-scale production began with Boy George covering Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back to Black’, as a coffin sporting Jean Paul Gaultier’s ionic conical bras was danced into view by six pallbearers with stylish swagger. Never self-serious, Jean Paul threw his own funeral, asking his famous friends – from Estelle Lefebure and Farida Khelfa to Paris Jackson and the Hadid sisters – to pay their respects by modelling a few of his 200 looks, spanning corsets, crinolines, tromp l’oiel suits, and, of course, show-stopping gowns.
The crowd laughed, the crowd cried and the crowd cheered.
See FQ’s highlights below:
